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Back in December, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. confirmed the Toronto Blue Jays' contract extension offer was “not even close” to what he had in mind, which led some to believe that Toronto would ultimately not be able to retain Guerrero before his deal expired. However, that does not appear to be the case after all.
Despite the initial comment and subsequent statements that he and the team had never been particularly close on a number, it seems as if Guerrero will put his name on the dotted line soon.
“While there was a rash of extensions this past week, no extension is more widely anticipated than the $500 million contract that Toronto Blue Jays first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is expected to receive, perhaps this week,” USA Today's Bob Nightengale wrote.
“Despite Guerrero’s spring-training deadline of the start of spring training, the Blue Jays and Guerrero’s representatives continue to negotiate, exchanging figures and are expected to reach a resolution any day.”
Nightengale wrote that the deal would keep Guerrero with the Blue Jays for “at least” 14 years, which tracks with previous reports during spring training that Guerrero was seeking a deal worth about $500 million over 14 years. If Guerrero were, indeed, to sign that contract, it would become the third-largest deal in MLB history in terms of total money, the second-longest contract in MLB history, and it would put Guerrero among the top 10 highest-paid players in MLB in terms of average salary.
A year after Shohei Ohtani signed a 10-year, $700 million contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Juan Soto was at the center of a bidding war, reportedly between the New York Yankees, New York Mets, and Boston Red Sox. Ultimately, Soto inked the single largest contract in sports history; his 15-year, $765 million deal is both the longest and largest in total value ever.
Guerrero never really had a chance to get nearly that much money, but he is still worth a lot. Over the past four seasons, Guerrero has hit 136 home runs and drove in 405 runs, and, in the process, become a four-time All-Star and two-time Silver Slugger winner. Additionally, he won a Gold Glove in 2022.
Guerrero has had a relatively slow start to the 2025 season, evident by his batting splits (.286 AVG / .350 OBP / .371 SLG). He has yet to hit a home run and has nearly as many strikeouts as hits nine games into the season.
